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I thought I would struggle to get 10 shows on my list this year and now I have like 16 and at least one show I'm desperately trying to get through in time to add it to the mix. In other words:Escobarbarian posted:Television! Hooray!!!!! Also: Looten Plunder posted:1. Every show you pick must have had a first time airing in its country of origin in full or in part during 2020. Congrats to 2021 TV Show of the Year, 2020's Better Call Saul!  Edit: But seriously, thanks for the thread Looten, I look forward to it each year 
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Dec 22, 2021 00:36
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Definitely recommend people check out It's A Sin for sure, at only 5 episodes it is a quick watch, and it's really goddamn good! By pure chance I was told a couple days ago about Lupin (inspired by the old books, not the anime... which was also inspired by the old books!) and ended up racing through all 10 episodes because it just caught me up immediately, it's another one well worth checking out if anybody is looking for more fodder for their lists... or just to watch a really enjoyable show!
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Dec 23, 2021 13:58
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I saw a hell of a lot more television this year than I expected, and there were a lot of great shows in that mix. Of everything I watched, perhaps the only true sour note - mostly because if had such potential - was Foundation, which was... I don't know what the hell it was, but it sure wasn't good! Even Falcon & The Winter Soldier at least was generically "okay", as opposed to the awful fumble that was Foundation, wasting the talents of Lee Pace, Terrence Mann and, most unforgivably, Jared Harris. There were a bunch of shows that I initially had in my Top Ten that slowly but surely slipped out as I saw something else that had either just come out or that I'd missed. Hawkeye, What If? and sadly Doctor Who were all entirely watchable but not good enough to make the cut. Wheel of Time doesn't quite seem to know what it is yet, but has a lot of potential. I was sure Invincible would make it, WandaVision absolutely would have if they hadn't crapped out on the final couple episodes. Then there was Arcane (incredible animation!) and finally the show that I really, really wanted to include in my Top Ten but in the end couldn't quite make it: For All Mankind, the alt-history series about the space race: a great show that feels like it is on the cusp of breaking free from its mold... but hasn't quite made it yet. Anyway, enough about that - here's my Top Ten for 2021!  10. Mare of Easttown In a lovely little Pennsylvania town, a middle-aged divorced police detective slumps her way through life, continuing a long-cold investigation of a missing young woman while trying to juggle raising both her teenage daughter and her young grandson, the last link she has to a drug-addict son who committed suicide. Played by Kate Winslet in an incredible performance, Mare Sheehan is just miserable and worn-down by life in general, and when another young woman goes missing and a hotshot young county detective (Evan Peters) is brought in to "assist" her on the case she feels like her grip is slipping. Mare of Easttown's setting is a squalid, run-down little town and the inhabitants are themselves showing signs of that decay setting into themselves. We're frequently shown the worst of the place, the drug addicts, teenage drinking, sexual abuse, exploitation and an underlying suspicion that everybody seems to have that everybody always has an ulterior motive. Mare herself is the town "hero", not for some crime she solved or great task fulfilled, but because she was the star of the High School Basketball team when they made the State Champs 25 years earlier. This is her claim to "fame", though she herself has little time for basking in the memory... it's just that there really isn't much else to celebrate in Easttown. Which isn't to say the show is an exercise in misery-porn. Mare has friends, she has family, she loves her daughter and grandson and even her mother (the wonderful Jean Smart) and yes even her ex-husband who lives in the house behind her own. She often holds them at arm's length, but one friend in particular, Lori (Julianne Nicholson) is always there for her. She even, surprising herself, has a bit of a love life, after she allows herself to be picked up by a newly arrived and very lonely academic (Guy Pearce). Where the show stands out, outside of Winslet's fantastic performance, is in seeing how people persevere through the tough times and refuse to let their friendships/relationships end even when strained seemingly to the breaking point. The show's core mysteries - the two missing young women - unravel in a satisfying way. The various twists - while a little contrived at times - have real emotional impact. This show is probably what Gracepoint (the American version of Broadchurch) should have been... but then they didn't have Kate Winslet.  9. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia The second show set in Pennsylvania, and also about squalid little people... but with a very different tone! 15 years in and still going as strong as ever, Sunny returned very late in 2021 for an 8-episode run. While the first four episodes were good, in the back half of the season the final episodes were right up there with the best this show has ever done... and that covers a lot of ground! The season starts with a recount of what happened to the Gang in 2020 during COVID (which still isn't over!), their own hosed-up Forest Gump style adventure through the last year of the Trump Administration, the election, and the attempted coup on January 6th. Next they do a meta-style episode around the use of blackface in television, as they endeavor to make yet another (beautifully) terrible sequel to Lethal Weapon and we discover that their new moral stance is, of course, entirely self-serving. A flashback episode about their attempts to buy an ice skating rink proves to be a shaggy dog story about how they ended up buying Paddy's Pub. Then in the set-up episode for the final four, the Gang purchase a monkey that proceeds to get them drunk and... well, you should watch it. But while each of those four episodes was fine, the sudden uptick in quality for the final four was remarkable. The boys piggyback their way onto Dee finally getting an acting gig and infect her trip to Ireland, both figurative and literally. COVID, cheese, castles, bog monsters, priests, piss, psychotic breaks and a running joke about the restorative powers of stew make the Ireland episodes of Season 15 an utter delight to watch. There's Dennis trying to forcefully control his body's response to COVID and having a complete mental breakdown; Dee's frantic attempts to salvage her one-ever acting gig followed by at least hoping to get laid and having even that taken away from her. Mac loses all sense of his own identity and throws himself headfirst into trying to find something upon which he can base his entire personality: being Irish, being gay, being a Priest, being Dutch, being a problem-solver.... something, ANYTHING, so he can feel like he understands his place in the world. Then there is Charlie and Frank, in a storyline that is somehow the most disgusting AND the most heartwarming (and at one remarkable point in episode 8, heartbreaking) as Charlie goes in search of an old pen-pal and discovers something much, much more. Look, it's a great show, and the writing is extremely clever, and the actors are just great and throw everything they have into this. But hell you should just watch it if only to watch Danny DeVito eat a turd he slipped into soup as part of a deranged revenge scheme.  8. Squid Game For awhile it seemed like Squid Game was everywhere, when it came out it captured the public imagination in a way usually reserved for giant blockbuster movies or TV series, and certainly not for a Korean drama series, written by a man who spent years trying to sell people that his idea had merit. It's hardly a unique idea, either. It's a death-game series, in which contestants take part in games where victory means another chance at a remarkable prize and defeat likely means execution. So why did Squid Game make such a connection with people? The creator - Hwang Dong-hyuk - told what he thought was a very Korean story: people in enormous debt willing to be exploited by the super-rich for the chance to take control of their lives. What he discovered, and it isn't a good thing, is that this was sadly a story that was not unique to South Korea. Certainly the private debt in that country is astonishing, but the overall story was a global one: capitalism creating such an enormous wealth gap that the super-elite can act with utter impunity while the poor are left between a rock and a hard place, where the choice they were given to compete was barely any choice at all. It helps that the central characters of the series are all interesting, well-written and make the viewer invested in seeing them survive. Seong Gi-hun is the clear lead, a gambling addict whose irresponsible attitude is maddening in spite of his charisma until we start to see the PTSD that underlies it, as well as the (based on true events) back story of how the Government/Courts destroyed the lives of exploited workers who made a desperate attempt to unionize. But there is also the "local kid who made good", a financial whizkid who screwed up on an investment and is now trying with everything he can to make enough money to cover up his failure and maintain the illusion of his success to his mother and the community that reveres him. There's the North Korean defector who is trying to get her parents out as well to reunite with her and her little brother. The old man with a brain tumor who just wants to feel the excitement of his youth. The Pakistani immigrant who has basically found himself a slave laborer in a country that was supposed to provide for he and his family. The con-woman whose age is making it harder for her to work her schemes. The gangster enforcer who stole from his Boss and now needs a lot of money VERY fast. Plus a variety of supporting characters who get 1-2 episodes to further the theme of how debt/pride/fear has left them vulnerable to exploitation. Unfortunately, while the actual Squid Game portion of the series is very strong, the show is let down by its final episode. This has been a regular complaint from viewers, mostly based around the clear intention to be sequel bait for another season. This itself - unintentionally - demonstrates in a meta-sense the themes of the show: Hwang Dong-hyuk finally got his work made after years of trying, but he didn't get any extra cut from the massive success the show ended up being. Should there be a second season, one imagines he could negotiate a far stronger deal, but whether he did it intentionally for that purpose or not, the sequel set-up/hook dilutes the strength of the overall season. Even before that, the reveal about the truth behind one of the central characters - while in keeping with the themes of the show - detracted from the strong relationship developed across the course of the series. Squid Game is a fascinating, if flawed, single season of television. Can it sustain more than one season before the gimmick wears thin? I guess we're going to find out, because for all the capitalist reasons mentioned earlier, you can bet that Netflix will want to make a second season.  7. The Expanse I only caught up on The Expanse as a series earlier this year. According to some, the first 3 seasons are the best, but my favorite was probably Season 4, I've greatly enjoyed what aired this year too. Season 5 mostly aired in 2021 and the bulk of season 6 is airing this year too. Telling the story of a future where humanity has colonized the solar system (and, of course, immediately set about creating entirely new racism as a result), the Expanse mainly focuses on a small crew of survivors of a destroyed ice hauler who end up in command of a little freighter salvaged from the Martian Navy's flagship. Caught up in events between Earth, Mars and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA), they discover a "proto-molecule" of seemingly extra-solar origins which leads to the creation of a giant ring in space that in turns opens the way to 1000+ habitable systems, more than enough for every human in the solar system to live in peace and harmony with more than enough resources for everyone forever. So of course the rich people take control of who gets to go through it. Season 5 (and 6 so far) mostly cover the long overdue cost of the exploitation and racism that underlies the system as seen since season 1. A particularly militant branch of the OPA, lead by Marcos Inaros, orchestrates multiple asteroid strikes on the Earth thanks to the assistance of a breakaway faction of the Martian Navy who take control of the Ring and leave the rest of the solar system to Marcos. This unfortunately marks the major problem with these two seasons.... Marcos Inaros isn't a particularly great villain. I won't blame the actor, based on the writing he's giving exactly the performance asked of him, but he's a one-dimensional cartoon supervillain who has survived this long purely due to plot armor as highly competent killers have had him dead to rights multiple times and allowed him to escape. The idea is that he's supposed to be so charismatic and magnetic that people can't help but let him speak and then get caught up in the spell of his words... except that doesn't come across on the screen at all so they just end up looking kind of stupid. In spite of this, I still rate The Expanse highly. Even in spite of the obvious COVID limitations on filming that hit season 5 so hard, the characters and the world continue to draw me in, and season 5 included some absolutely fantastic stuff. There was Amos' visit to his hometown and prison visit that coincided with the attack on Earth, and then his attempt to get off-planet as everything went to poo poo. There was Holden narrowly escaping a trap and going in pursuit of the proto-molecule yet again. There was Drummer and her small crew having to eat poo poo and join Inaros only for her to turn it all around at the end. There was Alex and Bobbie racing to the rescue of Naomi... and then of course there was Naomi's whole story. Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper) is the high point of season 5, getting probably the best storyline she's had the entire show and absolutely knocking it out of the park with her performance. Her history with Inaros ties in with her storyline going all the way back to season 1, and while Inaros might not be a great villain, she more than makes up for it in her utter disgust and loathing for him. Watching her trapped on his ship, forced into a horrific pantomime of the family she has created with the Rocinante Crew, is heartbreaking stuff. But it's the incredible episode where she escapes by leaping into the vacuum of space for the chance to make it to Inaros' booby-trapped bait ship and the follow-up where she slowly uses the bare resources at her disposal to send out a warning and to eventually escape is just phenomenal television. It makes a similarly themed episode of The Foundation stand out even more for how bad that was, both by itself but especially in comparison to this. The Expanse gets a little smaller each year, with less episodes, fewer cast (Cas Anvar is gone from the show after Season 5 and though I liked his character, he's gone for very good reason, gently caress that guy) and sadly less time in this remarkable world they've created. But while some think the show peaked in its early seasons, I still think that season 5 and what I've seen of season 6 so far make it still made it one of the best shows on television this year.  6. The Witcher I liked the first season of The Witcher, changes to the source material and all, though it did try to be a little too clever for its own good with the (unnoted) different time periods various episodes took place in. I think the second season is a big improvement though, even if Geralt doesn't take on anywhere near enough monster cases for my liking. Even for those who have never read the books or played the video games, the setting is easy enough to understand. A long time ago, there was a "conjunction of the spheres" that brought various races from different realities/worlds/universes to a single great continent. Humans were newcomers to this realm and quickly became the dominant force on it, much to the chagrin of the elves who lost most of their land and all of their status, though dwarfs fared a little better. With the Conjunction came magic (Chaos) and monsters, and sorcerors/sorceresses created Witchers - enhanced humans with long lifespans, heightened reflexes and minor magical abilities - to hunt and kill the monsters. Season 1 was all about setting the scene, establishing the characters, providing a backstory for Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri before bringing them together in the finale. Except it turns out Yennefer wasn't there, and so much of season 2 ends up being about Geralt and Ciri bonding while he quietly mourns for what he thinks is his now dead love. Yennefer, of course, is alive, and much of the season is about her attempts to regain the magic she burned out of herself at the end of season 1, tempted all the way by a demon called The Deathless Mother who has offered deals (that were taken) by two other sorceresses also trying to regain something that was lost. Part of what makes The Witcher so interesting (to me at least) is that between the monster killing/magic, the show is packed with political intrigue. There is the obvious politicking around nations between Kings and Queens of course, but also within and between the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and Lodge of Sorceresses, within the hierarchical structure of the Nilfgaardian Empire, even between Elves in their rapidly declining populations. Spies, intrigue and disinformation is the order of the day, and though the show sometimes plays fast and loose with the rapidity in which people can cross geographical distances (if you want an excuse, it's magic!) you do get a real sense that there is always a ton going on beneath the surface of even the most obvious powerplays, wars and pushes for territory. It also makes the various plays for power all the more satisfying when they blow up in people's faces, as seen in the final scene of the final episode of this season, which was intensely gratifying to see happen. At the heart of the show though is Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri. Yennefer, as mentioned, is largely doing her own thing or interacting with others (her team-up with the bard Jaskier is a delight) while Geralt tries to get to the truth of what Ciri won't tell him even as he finds himself growing to care for her more and more. Ciri's immediate adoption of him as a mentor/father-figure feels a little off at first given everything she has been through in season 1, but it all comes into sharp focus when she reveals during a heated moment that she envies what she has mistaken for a lack of emotions in him, which ironically ends up deepening the strength of their connection. For a show with such a devoted audience, whether it be for the books or the games or both, it is a difficult balancing act to try and tell a story without immediately drawing comparisons with the source material. The show doesn't always get it right, and sometimes it stumbles when trying to be different (Eskel really stands out), but for the most part as adaptations go this is a strong one, that clearly recognizes the heart of the characters/story it is telling and works well towards showcasing that. I liked season 2 better than season 1, and now that the Geralt/Yennefer/Ciri team is together at last (albeit in a much more strained way than any of them would prefer) I have high hopes for season 3.  5. What We Do in the Shadows With Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement no longer leading the writers' room, the fear was that the show would lose the magic that made the first two seasons so strong. Thankfully, season 3 proved things were still in good hands (Paul Simms has a fantastic track record, to be fair), with the experiment of working through a season-long arc paying dividends in the final episode, particularly in the final sequence when everything comes together in incredible fashion. A parallel story of sorts to the (delightful) movie of the same name, the series tells the story of 4 Vampires living together in Staten Island with familiar Guillermo, a human who longs to be a vampire and has been promised he will be made one at the end of 10 years of service (which he long ago passed). The vampires, just like in the movie, are... idiots. Spectacular idiots. And they're not alone! Almost every vampire we meet in this series is a loving moron, and it's fantastic. This season looks somewhat deeper into the systems in place and history of vampires in this world, but mostly through the lens of hilarious bickering and selfish, destructive antics of the various vampires. As usual, there are a series of great cameos - Donal Logue in particular is great - but the core cast remain the major selling point of the series, and the season plays around with some interesting new cast dynamics. Nadja & Nandor's power struggle for supremacy over ALL vampires (in the Tri-state area) is great, but it is really the surprising growth of friendship between Colin Robinson the Energy Vampire and Laszlo that steals the show, working its way from the background to the foreground over the course of the season. It bubbles away beneath the surface, and when everything culminates in the final couple of episodes and Laszlo reveals the unseen story and his motivations behind what might otherwise have been considered slightly out of character behavior (for one thing, showing any interest in Colin Robinson at all!) everything comes together wonderfully, leading to one hell of a hook for Season 4. But at its core, the show is just a very, very, very funny show about horrible, powerful, deadly and VERY stupid people who in spite of everything actually care for each other. There are some great concept episodes but the common denominator through all of them is that they're just extraordinarily funny: the episode where the vampires go hang out at Atlantic City and meet "The Rat Pack" is a standout for sure, but they aren't really any weak episodes. That the show exists at all was a surprise, moreso that it was genuinely good and funny, and most wonderfully of all that quality has remained in place through multiple seasons now and doesn't really show any signs of dropping anytime soon.  4. Lupin I had no idea this show existed until barely 2 weeks ago, and when I first heard of it (in the context of the Cowboy Bebop adaptation) I assumed it was an adaptation of the Japanese anime. Not so, this extremely French production is inspired by the Arsène Lupin stories from the start of the 20th Century (as was the Japanese show) but very much tells its own story... and it's a good one! I watched all 10 episodes in roughly 3 days, it's one of those shows that gets its grip on you quickly. Assane Diop (played by Omar Sy, who is fantastic in the role) is the son of a Senegelese Immigrant who came to France in hopes of a better life for his son. He appears to have found it, having become employed by one of France's wealthiest men - Hubert Pellegrini - until his life falls apart when he is accused of the theft of a priceless necklace and commits suicide in prison from the shame of his downfall. What follows across the course of 10 episodes (split into 2 parts, each of which aired in 2021) are two parallel stories as we see young Assane's education, obsession with Lupin, romantic relationships and development of friendships alongside the fully grown Assane who has become a "Gentleman Burglar" like his role model. As the series starts, the adult Assane takes the opportunity to steal the recently recovered necklace his father was accused of stealing as his "one last job" before retiring to concentrate on being a better father to his own son (he and the boy's mother are separated but on good terms). Instead he unravels a conspiracy that makes him question everything he thought he knew and turn his sights (and his anger) on Hubert Pelligrini himself. The show delights in playing with the framework of the stories of Lupin, often drawing attention to this through flashback/narration/voiceover to remind of some of the core concepts of Lupin as a character: he is a master of disguise, nobody knows who he REALLY is, he doesn't take advantage of women, his victims are often unaware he has stolen from them for quite some time, and even when he loses... he wins. Assane follows the same pattern, as does the series, and what makes it work is that despite the trappings and the theatrics the show never forgets that this is "real", and that Assane is NOT Lupin, and in real life the villains get to play by their own rules. Omar Sy is fantastic as Diop, but so is Hervé Pierre as Pelligrini, an absolute monster of a human being whose selfish, self-serving ways are signposted remarkably early when his estranged wife bitterly explains that if you are not 100% on his side then you are automatically his hated enemy. Coupled with a great supporting cast of various friends and foes for Diop, including the small team of cops trying to link seemingly unconnected crimes while keeping a clearly corrupt boss happy, the show just buzzes along at a breakneck pace that keeps up the excitement/tension throughout. It's not perfect, in fact at times the events that unfold and the reliance on certain people doing certain things at certain times is overly convoluted and far too convenient, but it is a show carried by the (significant) charisma of its lead, slick production values, and manages to say some important things both about wealth disparity but also the still present open (or barely hidden) and infuriating racism that permeates much of French society both in the 1990s and the present day. If you missed this series, check it out, it's an easy watch, there aren't many episodes, and its drat good!  3. Loki There were a bunch of Marvel TV series this year, each interesting or with potential in their own way. Of all of them, it was Loki that I felt had the most consistent quality across the course of its season, but more than that it was just a genuinely good show, regardless of its origins. They help, of course, the character of Loki is one we've seen develop across multiple movies, but the setting, the stakes and the general feel and look of the show all contributed to make this feel like something special. The series makes some interesting choices, picking up from Loki's cameo in the Avengers: Endgame film and thus showing a Loki before his quasi-rehabilitation and reconciliation (of sorts) with Thor, as well as his death (of course!) at the hands of Thanos. This means we're seeing a monstrous, callous Loki at first, which makes his utter frustration and impotent rage at the bureaucratic machinery of the TVA all the more enjoyable to watch. It wouldn't make for much of a show if he stayed that way though, and the show does attempt to have its cake and eat it too by trying to cram a lot of the progression he went through in the movies into the first couple of episodes via his discovery of Asgard's fate as well as his "interrogation" sessions with Mobius (Owen Wilson, who is wonderful, by the way). Remnants of his arrogance remain, of course, but this season is a journey of self-reflection and discovery for Loki, and in his narcissistic way of course this literally means facing himself: he encounters many other Lokis throughout the show, which is both comedic but also leads to some remarkably poignant moments. Loki literally gets to see the result of himself making mistakes HE would make and how HE would turn out if HE made them. Which leads to the she. Because across the infinite potential timelines that the TVA (Time Variance Authority) are trying to prune to maintain the "sacred" timeline, the deadliest and most dangerous Loki they've encountered is a she. Loki meets himself as a woman, a "variant" pruned as a child who escaped being disintegrated and seemingly has a grudge against the TVA. When Loki finally catches up to her, he finds out he's still a long way behind, as she reveals so much more going on behind the scenes than even he - a naturally paranoid person - suspected. The chemistry between Loki and "Sylvie" (Sophia Di Martino) is tremendous, carrying much of the emotional weight of a series (Mobius and the Judge do some heavy lifting too) that could have easily relied on its crazy visuals and the recurring gag of different variant Lokis. Together the two fight against fate, and especially against the notion that there is fate at all, battling to establish something that should stand true for all: nobody is inherently evil or "wrong", everybody deserves a chance to try and change for the better. There will inevitably be a season 2 (it was announced before the credits had even finished rolling on season 1!) and the new status quo set up at the end of the first season is intriguing. Mostly though I'm going to watch because I want to see Loki and Sylvie reunite, and for Loki to continue to try and figure out just who he really wants to be when he's not trying to mask his insecurities with his "God of Mischief" front. Tom Hiddleston does wonderful things with this character, and its great that he is getting a chance to explore it further in a series this good, this interesting, and most importantly this weird.  2. Only Murders in the Building I love Steve Martin, I think he's the bees knees and if he's in something, I'll give it a shot. I like Martin Short, I think he's fun but I'm probably not going to watch something just because he is in it. I know next to nothing about Selena Gomez, but also there's nothing to indicate that she's a detriment to any show. Put the three together and you have a show... that'd I'd probably only watch because it has Steve Martin in it! Luckily I did, because this show was one of my most surprising finds of the year. The trio are a delight together, their chemistry is excellent and remains just as strong no matter which of the various pairings are together for any given episode. They all work wonderfully with the multiple supporting cast members too, but the series is carried on the strength of their chemistry, and not a one of them lets the side down, and indeed each easily carries scenes solo as well. The concept of the show is "simple" enough: three true crime podcast enthusiasts who happen to live in the same (wonderful) building meet by chance and decide to start their own podcast about a suicide that took place in the building, which they are convinced was actually a murder. But the show is so much more than that, and the mysteries they encounter and the secrets they reveal spiral out from there in crazy directions that begin to affect their personal lives and their own safety... and reveal some secrets of their own. Part of what I love about the show though is that it doesn't indulge in one of my pet peeves: characters who don't talk to each other. Each time we the viewer learn that one of the main cast is holding something back, or the others discover some mystery around their new friend... it gets quickly resolved. They talk to each other, they confront or get caught snooping around or they just out and out explain things themselves. The pointless and easily avoidable drama gets sidelined and they focus on what is really important, which means the drama that ensues is around actual substantial narrative issues and not pointless sitcom misunderstanding bullshit. Each of the three main characters have plenty going on in their own lives. Charles (Steve Martin) is the now long-unemployed former star of a long-running police detective drama who dislikes socializing and is resigned to being alone after a painful breakup. Oliver (Martin Short) is a Broadway director who hasn't worked in years after a disastrously over-budget production of Splash! destroyed his career (and he destroyed his marriage), desperately trying to cling on to his beloved apartment despite having no money to pay his building fees. Mabel (Selena Gomez) is an artist living in her aunt's apartment while she renovates it, trying to come to terms with a tragedy she was involved in at the building several years earlier that she suspects links to the current murder (or suicide?). There are a ton of great supporting cast members too, various building inhabitants including Amy Ryan and the ever delightful Nathan Lane, and even Sting (the singer, and Oliver's #1 suspect in the murder!). But there's also Tina Fey as Cinda Canning, the true crime podcast queen who the trio idolize, and Jane Lynch makes a tremendous cameo as Charles' old stunt double who takes getting into his mindset/skin a little too far at times. In general, this show was just a delight to watch. Every week was just so enjoyable, kind of like listening to a favorite podcast, just settling in and watch them struggle to figure out the mystery. Just like they did when they listened to Cinda's podcasts, they thrilled to coming up with all kind of crazy or out there theories, finding solutions that fit all the facts but having to admit that it was all mostly conjecture built from jigsaw pieces when they weren't even sure what picture they were supposed to be making... or if they even had all the pieces. When the truth finally does come out, of course, it bears little relationship to what they first thought or most of the crazy ideas they came up with... but it's been built to, it's been earned, and it recontextualizes so much of what we saw beforehand. The show ends on a cliffhanger but it doesn't feel like this was a last minute addition or unearned, such as in Squid Game for example. In fact, rather cleverly the final scene of the first season was also the first scene of the first episode, this was all planned! Happily it's also a cliffhanger that has me pumped up for the second season, because I can't wait to see more of the adventures of this goofy, in-over-their-heads trio in that beautiful building, solving murders and basically making each others lives better. For a long time, this topped my list as the best show of the year, and even though it ended up dropping to two, I'd say it's still the show I enjoyed the most, even if it wasn't the best.  1. It's a Sin This was the best. At only five episodes long, this is an easy watch... but it's not an easy watch! Funny, energetic, fast-paced and enthralling, it is also a series that tackles some deeply unsettling and at times maddening subjects, all phenomenally put together by Russell T Davies in some of his best ever writing, featuring a cast of mostly young actors just giving their all for a show they know is special. It's a show about AIDS, but that's reductive. AIDS permeates every aspect of every episode, but to simply say it is about AIDS ignores just how broad a spectrum that covers. Because of course it's about life, about love, about freedom and being yourself, but also the stultifying, depressing misery of having to hide who you are from the ones you love and who should love you back. Set in Britain (mostly London) between 1981 and 1991, several young gay men and their female friend find each other and the exhilarating freedom of getting to be themselves openly for perhaps the first time in their lives. They come from different backgrounds, status and interests, but together they are a family, living together, partying together, studying or working or just enjoying being together. There's Ash, tall and handsome and experienced who helps newcomers find their way, which leads to a fantastic scene where he has to gently explain sexual hygiene to an enthusiastic virgin. There's Roscoe whose hyper religious father wants to take him "home" to Nigeria to "cure" him of being gay, who learns early on to be fiercely proud of his sexual orientation even at the cost of his family and holds true to his ideals. There's Colin, a sweet young Welsh boy who has come to London to take up a tailoring apprenticeship and seems happy to just stare on from the sidelines at the excitement of the London gay scene. There's Jill, an aspiring actress and "mother/sister" to the boys, who loves the energy and excitement of being with them but is among the first to start being concerned about the so-called "gay cancer". And finally there is Ritchie, played by Olly Alexander, a fascinating and often frustrating character, utterly convinced of his own status as the main character of the world. He comes to London knowing he is gay but with zero real-life experience, but takes to it like a duck to water, quickly becoming the frontman of the group, the (sometimes overbearing) personality who is convinced they can and will shine brighter than everybody else. For four episodes, this is a great television series, showing the early exhilaration suddenly tempered by the stories and rumors about the "gay cancer", turning to the rejection and denial that it is a real thing, followed by the acceptance and fallout of AIDS devastating the people they know and love and then even those in their close-knit family group. They don't come to it evenly or in lockstep, not helped by the utter barren landscape of medical help available early on, the active suppression of information, the reliance on a telephone-chain of hearsay to figure out what was happening, how to help, how to avoid, and perhaps most importantly how to manage it when it finally came. We see the horrible early treatments: the abandonment of patients to empty wards devoid of all human contact; the spiriting away of the sick to family homes to die in secret before all their worldly possessions were burned from fear of infection; the horror of those close to the victims who didn't even know if they could touch them or breath the same air; the various different ways the virus affected victims, including turning young previously virile men senile and causing them to say and do things they would never have dreamed of. Worst of all though, we saw those who didn't want to admit they had it, avoiding testing or - when they no longer could - seeking refuge in insane home remedies so they could continue to enjoy the lifestyle they'd only so recently gotten to enjoy after a lifetime of repressing who they were: in one (horribly) memorable scene, a man literally drinks bleach thinking it will prevent him catching the virus. But for all that the first four episodes are so great, episode 5 is an absolute masterpiece. Valerie (Keeley Hawes), a character almost entirely in the background or quietly unassuming for much of her brief appearances in the first four episodes, suddenly dominates much of the final episode in a distressing battle of wills with Jill over how to handle her son having AIDS. Her discovery that not only is her son gay but that he has AIDS sends her off the deep end, and what makes the actions that follow so terrible and traumatizing is that they come from a misplaced sense of love and duty. She does what she thinks is the right thing, and other characters - Jill in particular - find themselves torn between wanting to help their friend but also respect the fact that Valerie IS his mother. This all culminates in a devastating but beautiful final discussion between mother and son, which in turn leads to the absolute best scene in the entire series, when Jill and Valerie meet in person and Jill finally unloads all of her own frustrations and anger. Not on Valerie in particular, but on all mothers. All fathers. All family. All those who created an environment where young boys (and girls) couldn't be honest with them. Where they were made to feel something was wrong with them, that something needed to be hidden. Where all they wanted to do was escape so they could finally be themselves, and so of course once they tasted that freedom they then didn't want to lose it when AIDS came along... but AIDS also couldn't help but make some of them feel that maybe it was right that they were made to feel wrong all that time? Maybe there WAS something wrong with them? Something impure. A sin. Jill lets her have it, and though Valerie continues to think in terms of herself and her own feelings, Jill's point is a larger one relating to society itself. The final scene of the show reminds the viewer of what was lost, of the happiness and love these people felt together as a found family, because they found in each other what was lacking to some extent in their own families. They found acceptance. They found happiness. They found they could be who they really were, and that there was nothing wrong with that. This was the best show of the year. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Feb 18, 2022 |
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Dec 27, 2021 22:33
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Without spoiling anything, while I loved that second season and really liked the ending, part of how they get there felt off to me, particularly regarding Ed and his big decision. In the end it came down to between FAM and Mare of Easttown and while FAM I think had higher highs (Gordo and Tracey's "run" in particular) Mare was just consistently stronger all the way through.
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Dec 27, 2021 23:35
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The show was into its 10th Season when I decided to catch up on it and ended up zooming through those first 10 seasons in barely any time at all, it's a very easy show to watch and really, really loving funny. If you are able to find it anywhere, it's so worth catching up on, show has been consistently great for a crazy length of time.
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Dec 29, 2021 03:54
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Deadline is the 31st of January, you have a month!
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Dec 31, 2021 05:46
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Awesome list! I picked up the Station Eleven book last year but haven't had a chance to read it yet, didn't know they'd made a TV series of it but if Hiro Murai is involved then goddamn, I better read that book so I can watch that show! I should probably watch Succession, too!
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Jan 2, 2022 13:24
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TelevisedInsanity posted:1. I Literally Just Told You I love that at one point, even the cameraman has just loving lost his poo poo and can't stop laughing.
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Jan 7, 2022 09:26
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AEW is great, WWE's insane billionaire is a monster, but AEW's insane billionaire is a coked-up forums shitposter and it absolutely rules.RestingB1tchFace posted:3. Curb Your Enthusiasm Oh poo poo, Tracey Ullman is in the show now? I need to catch up on Curb, I haven't watched anything since the New York/Michael J Fox season.
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Jan 10, 2022 03:53
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bou posted:DIS-honorable mention: Foundation Seriously, this show was such a cruel let-down 
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Jan 22, 2022 10:36
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I am so happy to see Only Murders in the Building getting so much love, so sad that it seems very few people saw It's a Sin (because if they had seen it it would definitely be in their top ten!). It's only 5 episodes, you have time to catch up on it!
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Feb 5, 2022 02:09
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cant cook creole bream posted:These entries always show up at the last minute, regardless of when that is. As soon as the deadline closes, there will be at least one (completely genuine!) post from somebody saying,"Oh man I missed this thread, wish I could have made a list!"
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Feb 19, 2022 08:11
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Oh poo poo, hell yeah! Edit: drat, I was really the ONLY person who listed It's a Sin? It was so loving good!
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Feb 22, 2022 01:28
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Gimme those results 
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Feb 22, 2022 03:10
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Oh God I feel bad for doing this, but...Looten Plunder posted:92= (4 Points) Looten Plunder posted:28. Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+) !
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Feb 22, 2022 03:20
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When Invincible was airing I was sure it would end up in my Top Ten, kinda crazy that there was enough good stuff to justify not listing it in the end.Looten Plunder posted:God loving damnit. I spend so much time formatting poo poo and there is still a mistake I feel you, and I legit feel bad for bringing it up! 
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Feb 22, 2022 03:33
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Dynamite is so loving good.
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Feb 22, 2022 03:40
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drat there were a lot of good shows last year, considering it felt like a "weaker" year than normal.
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Feb 22, 2022 04:01
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Hell yeah Loki made the Top Ten 
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Feb 22, 2022 04:07
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Nice to see Only Murders made the Top 10, but that's my #1 and #2 picks out of the running and I have no idea what might win now!
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Feb 22, 2022 04:18
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I think Pizza Dog is floating like an inch above the ground based on where the two Hawkeyes' ankles get cut off!
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Feb 22, 2022 04:21
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Did we miss #3?
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Feb 22, 2022 04:23
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Looten Plunder posted:There was a tie. Ahh I see, sorry didn't see you'd dropped out 8 as well, that makes sense now. Edit: Anyway thanks Looten! I haven't watched Ted Lasso but I'm glad a show people like so much did so well!
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Feb 22, 2022 04:24
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Looten Plunder posted:Wonder if people will look back at this with the same glasses that we view the Netflix Marvel properties in a few years If they gently caress them up, people will still like the stuff that was good, just with the caveat that they hosed it up again. Jessica Jones Season 1 is still an absolutely brilliant season of television, it's just that unfortunately it was followed up with a second season bad enough that I never bothered with the third. And also, thanks for putting in all the work, Looten!
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Feb 22, 2022 11:47
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Not sure if it is more work than Looten wants to take on (they already do a ton just running this thing!), but one possibility would be any unranked list is considered the top entry is #10 and the bottom is #1 and if the person who posted disagrees with that ranking then they should have taken the time to rank it themselves 
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Oct 24, 2022 13:04
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Easily 20+ and I'm going to feel awful about leaving a bunch outside of the Top 10.
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Nov 1, 2022 11:11
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Ishamael posted:Just wanted to chime in and say that I always appreciate the work you do on this, and I keep a list throughout the year just for the purpose of contributing to your yearly thread, so keep rockin it 
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Nov 19, 2022 00:52
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Hell yeah, looking forward to it. But no need to apologize, take your time, the year isn't over yet!
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Dec 8, 2022 09:44
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Yep, excited to see people's lists and discover shows I somehow had no idea existed!
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Dec 20, 2022 11:27
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